Vapor Phase Change Cooling

[Lordbob75]

This is something I just learned about from a friend (who is using it for some reason...), and after a little research, is absolutely ingenious.

For those of you that do not know what it is, the basic explanation is this:
A fluid that is a gas at ambient temperature is compressed to around 200 PSI at 70 degrees Celsius. The fluid is then fed into a condenser (a radiator for gases). This drops the temperature back to ambient, and condenses some of the gas to liquid (but not much). The gas is then fed into extremely thin tubes of a set length, around .7 millimeters thick. This helps condense the gas into liquid, with a few bubbles, at a very cold temperature. The liquid flows through the tube, into the evaporator over the processor (or whatever you are cooling). The evaporator has a larger chamber, so the liquid expands back into a gas. This is an Endothermic reaction, sucking the head from the processor and into the gas. Then, it travels back to the compressor, still very cold. This cold gas is helps to cool the compressor, which then repeats the cycle.

This can keep temperatures of the processor in the 10 degree Celsius range, which is just ridiculous.
It also looks a little tough to build the setup, but would be worth it for a high powered computer with a highly overclocked processor.

Any thoughts on this?

~Lordbob

 

[Everlong]

It's a good system of cooling, but for the price and the size of some of the evaporators, I personally wouldn't go for it. I suppose if you do live in a hot climate and overclock a lot you could benefit quite a lot from it where air and water cooling fails.

 

[Lordbob75]

It's a good system of cooling, but for the price and the size of some of the evaporators, I personally wouldn't go for it. I suppose if you do live in a hot climate and overclock a lot you could benefit quite a lot from it where air and water cooling fails.

Like my climate (120F outside in the summer).

I don't know what the cost of all the components would be, nor how difficult it would be to set up. But I found the idea interesting.

This might work really well if adapted slightly to use in a small server or something.

~Lordbob

 

[Zen00]

In other words, you just put a refrigerator on your CPU.

 

[Lordbob75]

In other words, you just put a refrigerator on your CPU.

That is exactly what it is. Though I wonder if there is an easy way to seal your case, and use the whole case as the evaporator....

~Lordbob

 

[seekermeister]

I have not looked into this, beyond what you have already said, but there are already PC air conditioners available. I'm not sure how good that they are, but they aren't terribly expensive.

EDIT: The thing to consider is condensation. If it were much colder than ambient temperature, condensation would form, and possibly ice, neither of which would do a PC any good.

 

[Lordbob75]

I have not looked into this, beyond what you have already said, but there are already PC air conditioners available. I'm not sure how good that they are, but they aren't terribly expensive.

EDIT: The thing to consider is condensation. If it were much colder than ambient temperature, condensation would form, and possibly ice, neither of which would do a PC any good.

I had to go back and check this out. Normally, you would be correct. However, you do not use condensed air, you use a dry gas, such as Propane.
The reason for this is that you are taking water out, there should be none in the system to begin with.

You also need to extensively tune the system, requiring a few days work, and creating a vacuum within the chamber, filling it only with air.

~Lordbob

 

[tw33k]

VapoChill a little over the top for me but very "cool" none-the-less (pun intended)

 

[Zen00]

That's a bit old.

 

[Lordbob75]

I kinda got sucked into this, and spent a while researching it, just looking at stuff on the net.

With a little help, a couple hundred bucks, and all the tools I need, I could probably build a functioning one.
I also really want to try as well.

I saw the pricing on prebuilt units, and they are just not worth it. I would much rather just buy a small refrigerator and scrap it for the parts. (200 or so vs almost 1000)
I would have to go buy a cheap computer to test it as well though.

I wonder.... Would it be possible to use the whole CASE as the evaporator? Get a nice looking case (or build your own) and completely seal it. Then plug the evaporator into one end and the condenser into the other, and turn it on...
That seems like the ultimate cooling system to me.
Might be tough with a CD/DVD drive, and the PSU, but you could create a sealed opening to run power through and external drives.

The great part is that there is no water, so you do not need to worry about insulating anything (just don't smoke next to it if there is a leak!!!!).

~Lordbob

 

[arkhi]

Liquid Nitrogen cooling still rocks!

 

[seekermeister]

I have not looked into this, beyond what you have already said, but there are already PC air conditioners available. I'm not sure how good that they are, but they aren't terribly expensive.

EDIT: The thing to consider is condensation. If it were much colder than ambient temperature, condensation would form, and possibly ice, neither of which would do a PC any good.

I had to go back and check this out. Normally, you would be correct. However, you do not use condensed air, you use a dry gas, such as Propane.
The reason for this is that you are taking water out, there should be none in the system to begin with.

You also need to extensively tune the system, requiring a few days work, and creating a vacuum within the chamber, filling it only with air.

~Lordbob

The condensation or ice is not formed inside of the system, it is formed externally on the colder portions of the system. Therefore, the type of coolant only effects how cold it becomes.

 

[seekermeister]

Here is the cooler that caught my imagination a few years ago. The last I heard, it was released in Europe, but not in the US at that time. When I googled, there were no current returns, so I guess that it failed...probably due to price, which was fairly hefty.

Danamics to Soon Launch LM10 Liquid Metal Cooler - The LM10 cooling system generates no noise or vibration and has low power needs - Softpedia

 

[gladson1976]

Here is the cooler that caught my imagination a few years ago. The last I heard, it was released in Europe, but not in the US at that time. When I googled, there were no current returns, so I guess that it failed...probably due to price, which was fairly hefty.

Danamics to Soon Launch LM10 Liquid Metal Cooler - The LM10 cooling system generates no noise or vibration and has low power needs - Softpedia

Liquid Metal T-1000 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[spinifex]

When the Handbrake was right into overclocking, i built her a vapo cooled puter.
-58c @ idle. Nice base to up the ante for more speed.

Pulled it to bits some time ago, but haven't got around to rebuild it as she doesn't o/c much these days.

 

[dannyboy2005]

When the Handbrake was right into overclocking, i built her a vapo cooled puter.
-58c @ idle. Nice base to up the ante for more speed.

Pulled it to bits some time ago, but haven't got around to rebuild it as she doesn't o/c much these days.

So if it was -58*c at Idle, what temp would it be when over clocked, and how much could you over clock it too?

 

[jebuchanan]

Here is the cooler that caught my imagination a few years ago. The last I heard, it was released in Europe, but not in the US at that time. When I googled, there were no current returns, so I guess that it failed...probably due to price, which was fairly hefty.

Danamics to Soon Launch LM10 Liquid Metal Cooler - The LM10 cooling system generates no noise or vibration and has low power needs - Softpedia

I was just thinking as I read this thread, Asus has been using heat pipe technology like this for a while now on their motherboards and video cards.
This is not something new.

 

[blackroseMD1]

That's a very interesting idea. I would try it, not sure I have the $$ or the expertise to do it though.

 

[simmo]

I kinda got sucked into this, and spent a while researching it, just looking at stuff on the net.

With a little help, a couple hundred bucks, and all the tools I need, I could probably build a functioning one.
I also really want to try as well.

I saw the pricing on prebuilt units, and they are just not worth it. I would much rather just buy a small refrigerator and scrap it for the parts. (200 or so vs almost 1000)
I would have to go buy a cheap computer to test it as well though.

I wonder.... Would it be possible to use the whole CASE as the evaporator? Get a nice looking case (or build your own) and completely seal it. Then plug the evaporator into one end and the condenser into the other, and turn it on...
That seems like the ultimate cooling system to me.
Might be tough with a CD/DVD drive, and the PSU, but you could create a sealed opening to run power through and external drives.

The great part is that there is no water, so you do not need to worry about insulating anything (just don't smoke next to it if there is a leak!!!!).

~Lordbob

Have a talk to Kayl...overclockers au...he is the guy building my phase change system..you will need to register and then PM him...if he is willing he can probably help you with information

 

[simmo]

When the Handbrake was right into overclocking, i built her a vapo cooled puter.
-58c @ idle. Nice base to up the ante for more speed.

Pulled it to bits some time ago, but haven't got around to rebuild it as she doesn't o/c much these days.

So if it was -58*c at Idle, what temp would it be when over clocked, and how much could you over clock it too?

Depends on the CPU...can't say anything about temps but Kayl at Overclockers au is getting 5.2 ghz stable out of a 980 i7 (don't quote me on the CPU but I believe that's what he's playing with atm)